Mesopotamian Dramaturgies / Pursuit of Happiness

2009

Lentos Art Museum, Linz, Austria, 2009

Commissioned by:
Francesca Minini, Milan, Italy
Vehbi Koc Foundation, Turkey

Pursuit of Happiness is a video portrait of a Turkish village woman from Eastern Turkey. On the surface the interview focuses on the woman’s pursuit to find the perfect husband for herself, though it is really a metaphor for Eastern Civilization’s problematic marriage with the West, forced on both sides by globalization. The pursuit of happiness as one of life’s main objectives finds new interpretations in this candid portrait as this fundamentally Western ideal travels East, remaining paradoxically loyal to its Western origins.